As humans, all our five sense organs should be functioning well, but at times when they are sensitive, we tend not to pay much attention to them because we believe we can make decisions outside of these five sense organs. As a lady, I have learned to pay attention to the functionality of every part of my body, including the physical parts, and I've also learned to listen to my inner self and make judgments without consciously reasoning about them. Most of the time, when I am at a crossroads with a decision, I use my instincts to pave the way for myself, which means my intuition does help in such a dilemma.
This topic reminds me of a situation I found myself in a few years ago when I had to go into the outside world alone without my parent's guidance. After my senior secondary school certificate examination, I wasn't able to meet up with the grade I needed in physics and mathematics to further my education in a higher institution; therefore, I needed to sit for the examination again. I enrolled in a school outside of my parent's tutelage, a place where they don't see me every day unless we talk through phone calls, and that year I wasn't on any social media platform because I'm not using a smartphone but rather a small button phone that can only make calls.
My first day in the new school, where I had to rent an apartment in the new community to stay throughout the examination period, was nothing more than hell because I had to do virtually everything alone, which I am not used to, and that made me miss my mother, who has always been my assistant. "What have I gotten myself into?" I murmured as I was trying to clear the room and arrange my things, almost in tears because I was very tired.
Being a newcomer in the school and the community, I don't associate much with people because I always remember my parent's advice while leaving home, but all the same, as a teenager, I wanted to explore and do what my peers were doing. In my apartment, other students came for the examination also, and we all tried to get along well with one another. My apartment consists of ten rooms, five on the left and five on the right; it is an apartment we refer to as face me, I face you) in Nigeria. The rooms on the left side have a common kitchen and a common toilet, as do the rooms on the right side. I haven't been in such an environment before, but I had to adjust quickly to live peacefully with others and avoid being bullied.
After my first week in the new community, I have already familiarized myself with others and vibed well with the friends I made in school and the ones I made in my apartment. I would have loved to share with my mom my progress in the new place, but she will react as a typical Yoruba (a tribe in Nigeria) woman; the first thing she will say is, "Hope you aren't involved in any shady deals? Remember the child of whom you are and don't disappoint your dad and me," so I decided not to tell her anything; I just replied fine to every one of her questions whenever she called. As teenagers, we all want to enjoy ourselves outside of our parents watching us, and so do I.
There have been many advances from male students who want my company at a nightclub, which is something I'm not used to as a naive girl, showing a sense of belonging in a place where I know and am sure I don't belong but trying to force myself into the circle. I do narrate my experiences to my so-called new friends, who seem to be used to all the freedoms of going to parties and nightclubs. I would have given in to peer pressure and advice from my new friends, which would have landed me in a big mess, but thanks to my intuition, which helps avoid such a disastrous event, that would have left me with regrets.
After 2 weeks of my stay in the community, one of the male students wants to celebrate his birthday party, and he invited everyone in the apartment to join him for the party in a nightclub about 8 kilometers away from the apartment. Earlier, before the invitation to the party, he had been a regular visitor to my apartment to visit two of the girls staying opposite my room, and he had been a friend to me after making many advances for me to be his girlfriend, which I bluntly declined.
Due to my decline, I chose not to believe him because my heart didn't go well with him from the beginning. On the night of his birthday celebration, when all the other students were preparing, I also got dressed to join them, but as I stepped out to join the bus that would convey us to the club, I had a strange feeling about going; my intuition hinted at what was ahead of me and where I was going.
My instinct kicked against me going strongly, and I was glad I was able to understand instinctively because if I had gone, it would have been something I would live to regret all my life. I rejected the invitation and refused to go. My friends persuaded me to join them, but I rejected their offer. I was seen as a naive girl who doesn't know how to enjoy life. I went back to my room and undressed as others left for the party. On getting to the party, according to the story they narrated, it was a bad experience.
"The celebrant with his friends drugged the drinks of some of the female students and got some of them raped". It was a bad outing for some of them that went to the party, but for me, my intuition guided my decision and helped me avoid a disastrous end. It does direct my path.